Haleigh Washington poses for a portrait before practice Monday, September 10, 212 at Doherty H.S. Washington transferred to Doherty High in Colorado Springs and makes them one of favorites in 5A. She is also on a national team standing in at 6-foot-4. John Leyba, The Denver Post

Haleigh Washington poses for a portrait before practice Monday, September 10, 212 at Doherty H.S. Washington transferred to Doherty High in Colorado Springs and makes them one of favorites in 5A. She is also on a national team standing in at 6-foot-4. John Leyba, The Denver Post

She’s been up there, frozen in midair, looking down on these helpless girls like a traffic reporter spotting helpless commuters in rush hour.

Tara Hittle is in the 10-foot club, this soaring sorority of girls from the Colorado Juniors volleyball club. Back in the mid-2000s, Hittle’s ceiling for how high she could touch was 10 feet, 1½ inches. Now the coach at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, she’ll watch as Haleigh Washington, who also plays for that club in the offseason, spikes the ball seemingly from the rafters.

“Sometimes I see the set go to Haleigh and before she hits it, I get really excited, because I just feel like she’s going to break someone’s face,” Hittle said. “It’s just like, ‘Oh, man, I hope they’re ready over there, because this is going to be awesome.’ “

Washington’s touch ceiling has been measured at 10-8, the highest in the history of Colorado Juniors, with a list that includes players dating to the 1990s.

Washington is like, well, a human Washington Monument. She’s a 6-foot-4 sky-walking 16-year-old who, Hittle said, is such a touted player, she can go to any school in the country.

“Every team wants her,” Hittle said. “Penn State (currently No. 4 in the nation) offered her a scholarship over six months ago.”

Doherty was already supposed to be good this season. Then the buzz began that this phenom from Clear Creek High School in Idaho Springs was moving to Colorado Springs. The rumors and gossip in the high-school gymnasium were something fitting for a high-school hallway. She’s coming! False alarm, she’s not coming. No, no, she might be coming!

Coach Hittle tried to hide from the rumors, no matter how juicy. But then, the official word came that Washington, a junior-to-be, would indeed transfer to Doherty. And guess what team is now No. 1 in the state? Doherty knocked off preseason No. 1 Grandview in the season opener, claiming the top spot in The Denver Post’s 5A rankings, which are voted on by coaches.

Washington’s smile is as wide as her jump is high. Her coach gushes about her infectious personality. Get on her on the phone and she says in a bubbly voice, “Hi this is Haleigh Washington,” worthy of a dozen exclamation points.

Asked about her personality, Washington said, “When I come to the new school, I’ll be as spontaneous, obnoxious, crazy and funny as I need to be until I’ve achieved at making someone laugh.”

Hittle has seen some of the state’s best in volleyball and knows that with each cocked-armed spike comes cockiness. But her star — the state’s star — is as humbled as the girl who gets the spike in the face.

“Haleigh is one of those people who is just so genuine,” said Hittle, who played college volleyball at Hawaii, a perennial power. “What you see is what you get, and you don’t have to worry about anything being fake or forced. I know because of that, a lot of people look up to her. It would be a lot for me to say that she brings more to the team personality-wise than athletically — because that would be almost impossible, because she just brings so much athletically — but she brings pretty much the same. She really does bring everyone together and makes it a lighthearted environment, which I think makes it easier for everyone to get better and work together.”

Listening to Washington speak reminds one of Magic Johnson, famously talking about how the simple existence of Larry Bird motivated him to work harder.

“I know I need to work hard,” she said, “because I know there’s someone out there who can jump higher than I can, hit harder than I can and who’s better than I am— and I know this sounds rude, but I hate that.”

So how good is Haleigh? A good gauge for talented middle blockers is around three kills per game. Washington, so far, has averaged around five, including a 6.5 average in a recent bout against Chatfield. Call it a “Hale” storm. She also plays for the U.S. junior national team, but for now is focused on winning games for Doherty, spike by spike. Washington calls the whole process “a blur” but knows it will be a killer kill when “I contact the ball and there’s this nice little crack sound in my hand.”

As for her spectating coach, “When it’s the perfect set,” Hittle said, “and everyone is in rhythm, that’s when you know it’s going to be something spectacular.”

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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